‘Mumbaikars’ lung function 35% lower than in westerners’

Mumbai: The World Health Organisation&rsquo;s recent statement that 90% of people across the globe breathe polluted air should cause greater alarm in Mumbai than in most other places. The lung function of Mumbaikars is at least 30% to 35% lower than that of healthy Europeans and Americans, a new study has found. The test involved 1,000-plus healthy people who came to a south Mumbai hospital for a checkup. The study, presented at the European Respiratory Society meeting in London recently, not only shows that Mumbaikars have a reduced lung capacity but stresses that the gap between Indians and Caucasians has been worsening over the past 20 years. &ldquo;As part of the lung function test, we ask people to breathe out air forcefully. What the study has showed us is if a person could breathe out three litres of air a decade ago, he is breathing out almost 20% less now,&rdquo; pulmonologist Dr Sujeet Rajan said. According to him, the worsening lung capacity is related to environmental pollution and changing dietary habits. The study looked at lung function using a spirometry test for 1,041 healthy people, 34% of them women. &ldquo;Using statistical methods, we found that the lung function of Mumbaikars was 25-30% lower than Europeans and 32-38% less than healthy Americans,&rdquo; Dr Rajan, who consults at Bombay Hospital near New Marine Lines, said. A study done by chest specialist Dr S R Kamat more than 20 years ago and published in Lung India had showed that Indian test values were 20-24% lower compared with some other ethnic groups.

Incidentally, Indian lungs are known to be smaller in comparison to other ethnicities. &ldquo;A 15-20% correction in lung function parameters is always allowed when Indians are compared with Europeans. But how can we account for a difference of 30% or more?&rdquo; Dr Rajan said, adding, &ldquo;With increasing slowing of vehicular traffic across the city, especially in the suburbs, air pollution is definitely high.&rdquo; Air pollution levels in most Indian cities, including Mumbai, are among the highest in the world; with winter inversion barely a month away, pollution levels are likely to soar. But it&rsquo;s not just the dipping lung function that worries doctors. Chest specialist Dr Sanjeev Mehta said Indian lungs were known to be smaller than their western counterparts. &ldquo;We know that Indians suffer heart attacks more often than Westerners because we have smaller arteries. We know we have smaller lungs, but if our lung function is going to reduce because of air pollution. We are staring at a greater health calamity than we thought,&rdquo; said Dr Mehta. In fact, the recently released Global Burden of Diseases Study has shown that a third of deaths in India are caused by heart attacks, lung obstructions and strokes. Similarly, a study done in a Mumbai hospital last year showed that 40% of the 87 people tested had lower-than-ideal lung function, or weak lungs.